German Chancellor Friedrich Merz believes that the European Union's (EU) retaliatory measures against US tariffs are not appropriate at this stage to achieve the goals of the negotiations to resolve the trade dispute between the EU and the United States. This was stated to journalists by German Cabinet spokesman Steffen Seibert.

"The German Chancellor made it clear on Friday that he does not consider the introduction of countermeasures at this stage to be appropriate for achieving the goal of the negotiations. That is why he argued that the time until the end of July should be used for negotiations. Of course, this also contains a message that we must be prepared for the period after the end of July," Cornelius said. According to him, this issue is currently being discussed by the European Commission and EU member states.

Negotiations are ongoing, according to the German government spokesman, and are being led by the European Commission. “Over the weekend, there were also intensive contacts between the German government, the European Commission, and partner countries seriously affected by this issue in order to make it clear to the US side that a solution must be found by the end of July,” Cornelius said. He explained that the EC had outlined all possible countermeasures and that the German government supported the European Commission's proposals.

At the same time, the German government spokesman said that the German chancellor had discussed the issue of tariffs with French President Emmanuel Macron over the weekend. In addition, the leaders will touch on this topic on July 23 during the French leader's visit to Germany. “President Macron is coming to Berlin on Wednesday, and you can be sure that this will be a topic of discussion,” Cornelius concluded.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump announced the introduction of 30% tariffs on all European exports from August 1, in addition to the existing 10% tariffs on steel, aluminum, and cars from the EU. In response, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that these tariffs would undermine transatlantic supply chains and called for efforts to reach an agreement by August 1, regardless of the circumstances.